Harry: Yeah, but that’s what makes it so special. Sure we have to go back home for the summer. But imagine how totally awesome coming back is going to be. Until, I have gotta back to the Muggle world. They’re going to try and tell me that this wasn’t real, this didn’t happen. But you know what? This was real; this did happen. We spent time here, we made friends here; it’s a part of us. Cause Hogwarts is going to be here long after we’re gone. Maybe we’ll get to see our kids go here one day. That’s the thing about Hogwarts. No matter how long you’re away from it, well…there’s always a way back.

I’ve decided that A Very Potter Musical/A Very Potter Sequel is one giant metaphor for the Harry Potter fandom at large. Now I could research Team Starkid and see if they’ve ever made any comments to that effect…but they’re from Michigan and that would be giving them too much credit. (Just kidding guys. It’s just Beat M!ch*g@n week is upon us, and that’s a habit I will never be able to break. Obviously you have some talent. I mainly only hate the athletic teams….) When I want to talk about my experience with Harry Potter, I feel like all I need to do is quote something from AVPM/AVPS. “Going Back to Hogwarts” or the above quote or pretty much anything.

Tonight at midnight the penultimate movie will be released, a moment that has me realizing that it’s almost time to say goodbye to Hogwarts. The books have been done for a few years now, and it’s just this last movie thats left. After July, the Potter community won’t have any new material. And my experience with other fandoms, is that is when the fandom community starts to drift apart. It’s already happened with those that are strictly book people.

But then I realize, Harry Potter is ALWAYS going to be there. There’s two sets of books sitting in my bedroom that reminds me of that. And the hypothetical, amazingly sweet Blu-Ray box set of all the movies that I’m getting for Christmas next year…

We have to go back to the Muggle world at some point. We can’t all stay here forever pretending that shouting “Accio” actually brings things to us (as we walk over to get them…) But for those of us that waited with baited breath for a Hogwarts letter, or the next book or the next movie…the world that J.K. Rowling created over a decade ago on a napkin is always going to be some defining part of us. We’ll look back fondly to midnight releases and butterbeer and Quidditch games and the time that we spent with friends (those that we knew in the Muggle world and those that we knew only in this magical universe)

And not only is it going to be part of us, it’s going to be an establishment for children to discover for years to come. This world, as long as it is allowed to exist with out cynicism and cries of Satanism from outraged adults that have never taken a moment to peer into it, will be there for them. And some day, in the not so distant future, us, those that were the first students of Hogwarts will have our own children. And we’ll share with them the tales of the three best friends that anyone’s ever known (no, not the guys from The Hangover; I’m talking about Harry, Ron and Hermione) and watch as they discover this world that we once loved so. And as long as we never lose that childhood ability to dream and imagine wonderful worlds, we too will be able to make our way back to Hogwarts.

And we won’t even have to wait for our owl, or find where exactly platform 9 and 3/4 is located. Which is a relief. Because the concept of running through a brick wall is a little scary.

Back to wizards and witches and magical beasts/To goblins and ghosts and to magical feasts/It’s all that I love and it’s all that I need/Hogwarts, Hogwarts/Man I’m glad I went back.

3 responses to “This is school, Mr. Potter, not the real world”

This is so beautiful and so true… Hogwarts will always live in our imagination, in our hearts…And some day when we get little wizards of our own, they’ll discover the magical world where everyone is unique and special in its own way… They will await their letter from Hogwarts just as eagerly as did we…
That way the Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry will live in our imagination, our hearts…